The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-02-12
FARMING IN CALIFORNIA,
How the Owners of Wheat Ranches an,
Vineyards Conduct Their Business,

How the Owners of Wheat Ranches and
Vineyards Conduct Their Business.
The great staple product of California
is wheat, of which about fifty million
bushels, worth more than forty million,
of dollars, are raised in good year,
four-fifths of which are exported. THE
wheat is almost wholly raised on large
ranches by contract. The wheat-grower
is no more farmer than he is miner
or miller. He lets out his blowing and
seeding by the acre, and borrows money
from the banks to pay the bill, giving
security on the growing crop. In har-
vest-time contractor comes on the
ground with his harvesters, threshers
and separators, an outfit costing as
much as five thousand dollars. He brings
his own crew of twenty to twenty-five
men, who move from place to place, liv-
ing like gypsies in the open air. They
gather in the broad fields of grain at the
rate of more than one thousand bushels
per day, and leave the crop neatly piled
not put his hand from first to last. More
money is borrowed from the banks at
the rate of one and one-half per cent.
per month to pay for the harvesting,
AMI some time or any time, before the
RAINY season begins, the sacks are carted
either to the river or railroad, and sent
tomarket.
The rancher is to all intents and
purposes a capitalist, or, perhaps, a
manufacturer dependent upon the cap
italist, and, unless his operations are
conducted on sufficiently extensive
scale, themargin of profit is hardly
enough tokeep him in idleness during
the greater part of the year. Every
wheat-grower in California is not of
this sort, but every well-informed
person will recognize the character
istics of class sufficiently numerous
to afford basis for distinct and peculiar
methods of business, both as regards
contracts. transportation and finances.
1t is to the thrifty wheat-grower that
the employment of the Chinaman be-
comes necessity if he would vary his
husbandry, and avail himself fully of
the seasons opportunities. In plant
ing, wedding and digging, the China
man eXcels, and the testimony of many
a rancher is that without Chinese labor
his farming would not be successful.
~
tice in the State is wasteful. Early in
March the pillow is put in among the
vines to remove weeds that careful cul-
ture would never have permitted to
grow. The weeds come out, and so do all
the tender rootsnear the surface During
the summer the vines are commonly
allowed to run until they cover the
ground with shoots from ten to fifteen
feet long; then there is spasm of
pruning and they are all cut back just
at the time when the whole strength of
the foliage is required to mature the
juices in the rapidly swelling fruit.
The common price for grapes is from
twenty to thirty dollars per ton, accord
ing to variety and quality, and the
grover has SO little margin for profit
that he can only employ industrious and
steady laborers at small wages. As a
consequence, the most successful grape
growers are compelled to employ China
men in their vineyards. Generally the
more successful the man, the more
Cinnamon he employs; their wages are
from twenty to twenty-five dollars per
month without board. Youths Com
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